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Best Premier league defender of all time

When JT retired Carragher wrote an article in which he thought him to be the greatest defender in PL History. ( Carragher himself was decent and would have had scores more caps if JT hadn’t kept him out)

In one of Peter Crouch book he mentioned he was very cute in buttering up refs in the tunnel- calling them by their first names, asking how family was etc

 
Stretford Ender said:
John Terry was a superb central defender all round. Jaap Stam hasn't been mentioned but he was rightly called the one-man defence and I would pick him ahead of Vidic.
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Hoped you would give your opinion on this Stretford, I did mention earlier I thought Stamp was potentially Utd best defender and Fergie regretted selling him

 
Phillip said:
Vidic is no. 1 in my book, with JT no. 2.  No. 3 is a tough one: Rio, Ashley ?

as to Carvalho, I never saw a defender physically grab players in the box on corners like he did. I kept thinking if the ref would only just focus on him, we would get a penalty called against us every time.  Don’t think he was ever caught though, so perhaps I don’t give him enough credit for being able to hide his antics from the ref.  That and the way he would always go straight in with his tackles, and I kept thinking red card here we come.

So No, in my book Carvalho is nowhere near the top three.
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Vidic wasn't even Utd's best ever CB. As for better than JT? No chance. 

JT will forever be number 1.

 
My view is that, while they were all top defenders and organisers whose commitment could never be faulted, Stam, Vidic and Carjacker were not in JT's league as footballers. JT was the ultimate defender in terms of reading of the game, positioning, toughness, commitment, aerial ability, composure, touch, chest control, two-footedness and passing ability. Throw in his trophies, disciplinary record (very few red cards and suspensions, given the number of games he played) and unequalled goal-scoring, and there is noone to touch him. 

Apart from VvD obviously.

 
What is it with Liverpool lads. Their voice is very high pitched and the way they talk is just doesn't sound very intelligent... Carragher being on television for those reasons is weird for me.

JT for me.

 
Paul McGrath for me, even though he couldn't run and was permanently drunk by the time the Premier League started. Followed by JT.

 
Liam said:
Paul McGrath for me, even though he couldn't run and was permanently drunk by the time the Premier League started. Followed by JT.
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Quality player, and (I've read his autobiog, which is excellent) a Chelsea fan.

 
Liam said:
Yes, a difficult read at times but the best football autobiography by some distance. I played golf with him about 8 years ago and we talked Chelsea most of the way around. 
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Impressive!

Agree with you about the book. The opening chapters about his years in a children's home really got to me. And of course his horrendous battles with drink are harrowing.

You wonder how much more he'd have achieved without the injuries (which basically prevented him training for about 10 years) and the alcoholism.

 
Terry has to be number one. Could pass better than 99% of centre backs, although this was overlooked with Rio being considered the "ball-playing centre back", and Terry considered aerially dominant. JT had it all. Needed a balll pinged 40 yards crossfield with his weaker foot? No problem. Organising the backline? Yep. Could handle all types of players from pacey nippers to big target men. Read the game impeccably, scored important goals for us. There have been many great defenders in the prem, but none as complete as Terry. Massively underrated. Labelled as a Tony Adams type that was big and strong and a leader, but he was so much more than that, they just couldnt fit it all in an easy label, so it got largely overlooked.

VVD is probably the closest thing to JT in terms of being a complete all rounder, but JT did it for 15 years. Can Van Dijk?

For me, top two are Rio and JT. The others are a little way back.

 
I don't really know much about the new PL Hall of Fame thing but I read online that the remaining 6 inductees will be determined by fans votes (Henry and Shearer are already in) so just saying that JT should be up there with the rest of the first HOF players.

 
Almost impossible for us to remove our blue bias, but it is hard to argue against JT.  Longevity, leadership, consistency at all levels.  The results and major trophies say it all.  Fearless, determined, great positioning and much better on the ball than he gets credit for.

Notable mentions all said above - Rio, Vidic, Stam, Hyypia, Campbell, Adams, Kompany, Carvalho.  I'd probably go with Vidic and Rio.

VVD is class, no doubt about that.  Was riding a wave of form, but doesn't quite match the above for longevity.  Hopefully he recovers well so the quality can show once more - I do not like Liverpool at all, but I appreciate how good he is. 

 
Stuart Peace. I know he was towards the end of his career when the Premier League started.
However, I felt he was still a really good defender. 

 
John Terry.

I think VVD have a chance to be up there alongside Terry but he need to win a lot more trophies to cement his name as a legendary cb. For all we know, he could come back from injury a different player.

 
Thinking about centre backs its easily JT for me, the longevity of his career and how long he played at a top level and still winning trophies. I would put Adams in second, seeing alot of him live he was some defender and scored one of the most iconic goals in PL history.

At left back is one of the easiest decisions anyone can make in Cole.

 
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